12/19/2011

Listening to Fox News today discuss whether anyone cares about the personal life of presidential candidates, one Fox girl said something like “Now that most people are divorced, why would they care that Gingrich is divorced?”

It made me sad she doesn’t know that most people are not divorced–probably most people in her world are divorced.

As I've said many times over the past few weeks: If Newt Gingrich is the nominee, the GOP loses the marriage debate. And Ive said it because I truly believe it. If we have to start having a national conversation about Newt Gingrich, the hypocrisy of his "defense of marriage" claims vs. the gaps in his own marriage-defending lifestyle are going to open up in a new, unexplored way. A GOP that acts like none of it matters is a GOP that will completely destroy its "practice what you preach" credibility. I'm sure of it.

But NOM hasn't been saying any of this. We had Brian Brown at a recent Gingrich fundraiser, Newt signing NOM's Marriage Pledge, Newt financing the NOM-backed judge recall efforts in Iowa, NOM aggrandizing Newt over other candidates like Ron Paul, etc. So to have Maggie now saying it makes her sad to hear people acting like "Gingrichian level" divorce doesn't matter? Well that's a fascinating point to consider! It makes me wonder if a Gingrich candidacy would not only wound the "protect marriage" movement in general, but also cause great schisms within groups like NOM.